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The Swiss Attorney General Micheal Lauber said he was confident the money laundering probe into scandal-hit Malaysian fund 1MDB would bear fruits and this despite Malaysian authorities’ refusal to cooperate.

“It would have been very desirable from our perspective if Malaysia had cooperated,” he said.

To recap, Malaysia’s Attorney General Office, despite repeatedly saying it will cooperate with any foreign agencies investigating the 1MDB scandal, refused to reply to the Swiss Attorney General’s office request for detailed information on the issue.

In a chilling response, the Swiss AG said: “It’s not hopeless, in fact it’s the opposite,” while addressing a news conference.

He said the probe was making progress, based on money-laundering reports, bank documents and work with Singapore and other countries.

But “we’re still confident that we can successfully conclude the process in this area, in particular in the open cases against the two banks,” he said, referring to Swiss private banks BSI and Falcon.

Malaysia rebuffed Switzerland’s request for legal assistance in probing 1MDB on several occasions, Lauber’s office had said in November.

In his report, Lauber repeated his remarks that his probe of Malaysia’s scandal-hit state fund 1MDB has been hampered by Malaysian authorities’ refusal to co-operate.

PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong has apologised for the ongoing family dispute involving him and his two younger siblings, admitting that the episode has affected Singapore’s reputation and Singaporeans’ confidence in the government.

In a statement to the nation that was also recorded on video, he announced that he will deliver a ministerial statement when Parliament sits again on July 3 to “refute the charges” levelled against him by his siblings Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang.

In a rare move, PM Lee, who is also the secretary-general of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), has instructed that the PAP party whip be lifted that day.

He said that all members of Parliament will have the opportunity to raise questions for themselves and their constituents.

PM Lee urged all MPs, including those who are not from the PAP, to examine the issues thoroughly and question him and his Cabinet colleagues “vigorously”.

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“Much as I would like to move on, and end a most unhappy experience for Singaporeans, these baseless accusations against the government cannot be left unanswered. They must be and will be dealt with openly and refuted,” he said.

PM Lee hoped that this “full, public airing” in parliament will dispel any doubts that have been planted, and strengthen confidence in Singapore’s institutions and the system of government.

He assured all Singaporeans that this matter would not distract him and the rest of the Cabinet from their responsibility to govern Singapore, and to deal with more important national issues, including the pressing economic and security challenges that the country faces.

“As public servants, my ministers and I will always protect the integrity of our institutions, and uphold the strict standards separating private affairs from our public duties,” said PM Lee.

“We are determined to repair the damage that has been done to Singapore. We will continue to lead our nation and serve you to the best of our ability.”

President Michel Temer was charged with corruption by Brazil’s prosecutor general late Monday. He was accused of taking a $152,000 bribe via an intermediary, an act that, according to the prosecutor general, Rodrigo Janot, “helped to compromise the image of the Federal Republic of Brazil.”

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Elections are looming next year, and many lawmakers are facing their own corruption investigations. They may well feel safer siding with the government, even one as shaky as Mr. Temer’s, said Marcus Melo, a professor of political science at the Federal University of Pernambuco.

“He is a lame duck, but incredible as it sounds, he can count on this base because they, too, are implicated in many things,” Mr. Melo said.

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On Monday, a federal police report said there were indications that Mr. Temer had obstructed justice in apparently encouraging Mr. Batista to keep making payments to Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of the lower house of Congress, who has been jailed in another corruption case. This could mean a separate charge against the president.

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On Monday, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a former president and elder statesman of the party, said in a newspaper column that Mr. Temer should make a “grand gesture” and cut short his mandate.

Nearly $30 million of funds stolen from scandal-hit 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was used to buy jewelry for the prime minister’s wife, including a rare 22-carat pink diamond set in a necklace, according to the latest filings by the U.S. Justice Department in a civil lawsuit.

The filings lodged at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday did not identify Prime Minister Najib Razak or his wife Rosmah Mansor by name, but said the jewelry purchases were for the wife of “Malaysian Official 1.”

Malaysian and U.S. government sources have previously confirmed that “Malaysian Official 1” refers to Najib.

The diamond necklace set alone cost $27.3 million, according to the latest filings in a lawsuit that was launched last July….

Donald Tsang Yam-kuen became Hong Kong’s first ever chief executive to be convicted in a criminal trial as the High Court on Friday found him guilty of misconduct in public office when he was the city’s leader.

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After a six-week trial, Tsang faces a maximum sentence of seven years behind bars for misconduct in public office between 2010 and 2012. Tsang, 72, was granted bail, as the case was adjourned to Monday for mitigation by his defence team.

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During the trial, the prosecution portrayed Tsang as a two-faced liar who had used his public position to collude with rich businessmen for personal gain, …

A senior Malaysian journalist who quit his job at a leading newspaper said Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government has cracked down on freedom of speech as it tries to limit the fallout from a graft scandal surrounding a state investment fund.

Investigators in at least seven countries are probing 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, a government investment fund Mr. Najib set up in 2009 to boost growth. Some investigators have said they believe $6 billion has gone missing.
Hundreds of millions of dollars originating from 1MDB allegedly moved into Mr. Najib’s private accounts via a web of offshore entities, and was spent on politics, jewelry and clothes, The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing investigators and bank-transfer documents.

Mr. Najib’s government has banned newspapers it controls—which include the New Straits Times and the larger-circulation Malay-language Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia newspapers—from covering the 1MDB story, Mr. Mustapha said in an interview.

News releases from 1MDB denying stories in the Journal and calling into question its sources would sometimes come to the New Straits Times from the prime minister’s office with orders to run the statements in their entirety, according to Mr. Mustapha. The newspaper did as they were told.

“There are specific instructions to use this or that story, and we’re not allowed to question,” he said….Mr. Najib’s administration has cracked down on criticism of 1MDB in other ways. Last year, a former ruling-party politician was arrested on charges of economic sabotage after he called for an investigation into 1MDB. He was later released on bail.

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“When an American newspaper…wrote a story that got nominated for the coveted Pulitzer Prize, about an issue that happened right under my nose, I began to seriously search my conscience and asked myself why I was in journalism in the first place,” he said.